Theoretical Existentialism - Michael S. Gatlin

would give anything to know the name 

of anyone in heaven

anyone with a cause             a solution

a supreme function    a delight to share

a vision unlimited     supply demanded

an urgency

with stashed cash for rash getaways

gas for fast crafts        and no plans 

but to hammer down

anyone with a name    a stake in the game

a case of the gottagoes always too

would give anything for the color blue 

to spill over everything in infinite shades 

from clear to black and back

would give anything       if not for reality

its painfully obvious comforting      sting

its agreed upon common denominator

and sharp witted lies

bloody nose heights

and heavy b(lo)ody (b)lows

its high nineties 

and below zeroes

would give anything 

for just one taste of that supreme jelly

that drips from that imagined 

holy place

Originally published in California Quarterly, Summer 2014 

Michael S. Gatlin is a fifty year old pirate, still surfing the seas of adventure. He owns and operates Owl & Whale, a bitters / cocktail consulting company in Portland Maine. He moved there from New York City where he owned and operated the restaurant / bar Verlaine on the Lower East Side. He moved to New York from Montana where he cleared trails for the National Park Service. After high school Michael joined a traveling carnival and drove from Vancouver to Quebec City operating a reverse bungee jump ride known as The Ejection Seat. After that he helped start a mock religion known as The First Interplanetary Church of The Immaculate Deception. His first book has just been published. Delightmares is about his time spent in Nashville helping that gang of punk rock misfits assemble a faux cult.

X: @delightmares

IG: @delightmares_